NEW ORLEANS -- A multimillion-dollar legal dispute between an acclaimed New Orleans breast surgeon and his former friend and business partner — each of whom faces unrelated criminal charges in Orleans Parish — is getting ugly.

Adams also claims he helped Sadeghi invest $2 million in a Hammond office building in part because Sadeghi "wanted to remove monies from his community (property) as he was going through a 'nasty divorce.' "

The allegations came Tuesday in response to a lawsuit filed last month by Sadeghi, who claims Adams forged checks and misappropriated millions of dollars from the plastic surgeon's lucrative business in a racketeering scheme.

The legal skirmish pits two men who appeared to be fast-rising buddies before each of them landed in hot water within days of each other this spring.